μεγάλα μοι Κύπρις ἔθὑπνώοντι παρέστα,
νηπίαχον τὸν Ἔρωτα καλᾶς ἐκ χειρὸς ἄγοισα
ἐς χθόνα νευστάζοντα, τόσον δέ μοι ἔφρασε μῦθον·
μέλπειν μοι φίλε βοῦτα λαβὼν τὸν Ἔρωτα δίδασκε.
5 ὣς λέγε· χἂ μὲν ἀπῆνθεν, ἐγὼ δὅσα βουκολίασδον,
νήπιος ὡς ἐθέλοντα μαθεῖν τὸν Ἔρωτα δίδασκον,
ὡς εὗρε πλαγίαυλον Πάν, ὡς αὐλὸν Ἀθάνα,
ὡς χέλυν Ἑρμάων, κίθαριν ὡς ἁδὺς Ἀπόλλων.
ταῦτά νιν ἐξεδίδασκον· δοὐκ ἐμπάζετο μύθων,
10 ἀλλά μοι αὐτὸς ἄειδεν ἐρωτύλα, καί μἐδίδασκε
θνατῶν ἀθανάτων τε πόθως καὶ ματέρος ἔργα.
κἠγὼν ἐκλαθόμαν μὲν ὅσων τὸν Ἔρωτἐδίδασκον,
ὅσσα δἜρως μἐδίδαξεν ἐρωτύλα πάντἐδιδάχθην.
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Edmonds 1916
Loeb
Edmonds (eclectic), 1916 · 1916
The Editor

John Maxwell Edmonds (1875–1958) was a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, who produced the Loeb Classical Library editions of the Greek lyric poets, iambic and elegiac poets, and other fragmentary Greek poetry. A prolific but sometimes controversial editor, Edmonds was known for his willingness to supplement and restore fragmentary texts — an approach that drew criticism from more cautious scholars but made otherwise inaccessible fragments available to a wider audience.

About This Edition

Edmonds's Loeb editions present fragmentary Greek poetry with facing English translations. Following Loeb convention, the text is based on existing critical editions supplemented by Edmonds's own supplements and restorations. For fragmentary poetry, more reliable editions are now provided by later collections (e.g. D. L. Page, M. L. West, and the multi-volume Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum), but Edmonds's Loebs remain useful for their translations and accessibility.

Translator

J. M. Edmonds (Loeb Classical Library)

Text Basis

Edmonds's own eclectic text for the Loeb Classical Library.

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